10 of the best pasta salad recipes for your 4th of July party

Still trying to figure out what side dish to serve at your Fourth of July picnic or barbecue? Or better yet, did you get assigned to bring pasta salad for this weekend's festivities? Fear not: We've collected 10 of the best pasta salad recipes to make your Fourth of July party a success.

Take a look at each recipe in the gallery above or this list below:

1. Carbonara Pasta Salad: For this recipe, we borrowed the key ingredients from pasta carbonara -- right down to the eggy sauce and savory pancetta -- but remade them as a picnic-worthy pasta salad. Every bit as delicious as the traditional dish, but far more refreshing on a hot day. Get the recipe here

2. Hero Pasta Salad: Surprise your picnic guests with this pasta salad from Taste of Home that has as many add-ons as a deli hoagie. Get the recipe here.

3. Fall Harvest Orzo Salad: In this recipe adapted from Food Network's Aaron McCargo Jr. ("Big Daddy's House"), you take the sweetness of dried fruit and add a bit of salt and savory sizzle. Get the recipe here.

4. Nicoise Orzo Salad: You may not want to shout it from the rooftops, but the secret ingredient here is anchovies. Get the recipe here.

5. Cold Chicken Pasta Salad: This chicken macaroni salad may remind you of a combination of chicken salad, macaroni salad and potato-salad dressing and fixings, minus the potatoes. Get the recipe here.

6. Summer Pasta Salad: This light and bright pasta salad is a sojourn to Greece, thanks to the recipe from British food writer and broadcaster Amanda Grant's "Fresh and Fast Vegan." The quick dressing combines fresh lemon juice and chopped mint with extra-virgin olive oil, creating a tangy coating for rotini pasta. Get the recipe here.

8. Sun-dried Tomato Macaroni Salad: So many pasta salads start with a great base perfectly cooked pasta and a bevy of crisp, fresh vegetables, but fall apart when it comes to the dressing. This recipe starts with oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, which provide a deeply savory, rich flavor. For tang, we puree the tomatoes with a mix of light mayonnaise and plain Greek yogurt. Finally, just a tablespoon of brown sugar ties everything together with a subtle sweetness.Get the recipe here.

10. Roasted Beet and Tortellini Salad: Roasted beets, tortellini and fresh blueberries admittedly sound like an unusual combination for a summer pasta salad. But trust us on this one. The flavors and textures work surprisingly well together -- and it will look great on your 4th of July table. Get the recipe here.